Salade Niçoise

‘‘Some combinations become famous just because the mixture was such a happy one that it has lived on and on, pleasing successive generations of palates. Salade Niçoise is certainly one of these, and so famous that arguments exist as to what is the real ting. Being a great fan of potatoes, beans, eggs, and tomatoes in a salad, I naturally opt for the Escoffier ingredients; I am a great fan of his too, and he was a Niçois, after all’.*

Julia Child – The Way to Cook

Nothing is better than a meal prepared from ingredients that are fresh from the market or your own garden.

Salade Niçoise is a perfect, satisfying meal full of fresh vegetables, eggs, tuna and those lovely Niçois olives. 

In preparing Salade Niçoise presentation is important when you arrange all the wonderful, colorful ingredients on a platter – giving you the first opportunity to feast with your eyes.

Salade Niçoise consists of salad ingredients topped with tuna, French Potato Salad and Niçois olives. This makes for a wonderful lunch or a very satisfying summer dinner.

Salade Niçoise

1 large head of Boston lettuce, washed and dried

2 to 3 Tbs virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 ½ pounds fresh green beans, trimmed, blanched, refreshed in cold water and dried

2/3 to 1 cup salad dressing, such as Oil and Lemon Dressing* or with garlic variation

3 or 4 fine ripe red tomatoes, peeled if you wish, and cored, quartered and seasoned before serving

8 to 10 ounces oil-packed tuna, drained and flaked

1 quart French Potato Salad*

8 hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise

1 can flat anchovy fillets packed in oil, opened and drained just before serving

½ cup black Nicoise-type olives

3 or 4 Tbs capers

¼ cup minced fresh parsley

Assembling.

Shortly before serving, line a handsome large and wide salad bowl or roomy patter with lettuce leaves, drizzle a little olive oil on them, and dust with sprinkling of salt. Toss the beans in a mixing bowl with a little of the dressing, and correct seasoning. Drizzle a spoonful or two of the dressing over the tomatoes. Season the tuna lightly with a spoonful of dressing. Place the potatoes in the center of the bowl or platter; mound beans at strategic intervals, interspersing them with tomatoes and mounds of tuna. Ring the salad with the eggs, and curl an anchovy on top of each. Spoon a little more vinaigrette over all; scatter on olives, capers, and parsley. Serve as soon as possible.

French Potato Salad

1 ½ pounds warm, sliced cooked potatoes

2 Tbs finely minced shallots or scallions

salt and freshly ground white pepper

¼ cup chicken stock or potato cooking water

1 ½ Tbs wine vinegar

2 to 3 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

2 to 3 Tbs light olive oil, optional.

Turn the warm potatoes into the bowl and toss gently with the shallots or scallions, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, stock or cooking water, vinegar, and parsley. Let steep 10 minutes or so, tossing gently several times. Then correct seasoning, toss with optional oil, and the potatoes are ready for serving.

I thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful combination in this dish. I think you'll find it a wonderful dish to prepare for lunch or for a special gathering.

Coq au vin

As many of you know, I am participating in a celebration of Julia Child’s upcoming 100^th birthday. In the field of the culinary arts – Julia Child was and remains an inspiration to chefs and to the home cook. It was her detailed efforts to bring the wonderful French gastronomy to the American homemaker that set off a lifelong career in cookery and most importantly – the love and appreciation of good food.

"The pleasures of the table are infinite. Toujours bon appétit!"

- Julia Child

This week, we have been challenged to cook Julia’s Coq Au Vin. To me, this is classic French cooking and classic Julia Child.

Coq Au Vin is a variation of her Ragout of Chicken and Onions in Red Wine. In Coq Au Vin, small braised onions, mushrooms and lardons of pork are added. This dish is a wonderful Sunday dinner dish or one to prepare when receiving company.

As I was gathering the ingredients for this dish, I met the grocery store manager in our small town. When shopping here you rarely go in for a ‘quick run’. You will generally run into someone you know and conversations – or catching up will ensue. Our grocery store manager happened to spend some time in France during WWII – he speaks French fluently and when he noted what was in my cart he asked what I was ‘fixing for dinner’.  I then told him, he smiled and corrected my pronunciation. Then, he began to tell me of a time he spent in an old French gentleman’s home and the man prepared and served Coq Au Vin. Instead of cutting up his chicken, he prepared it whole in a roasting pan and used white wine. I have a preference for white wine  with chicken – so I decided then and there to make that one change – otherwise I followed the instructions to the letter.

My friend also shared a wonderful way to prepare broccoli and cauliflower – one that gives a lovely presentation.

You cut the bottom of the cauliflower removing the leaves and the core – set it in the center of a dish – I used a pie dish. Then you surround the cauliflower with broccoli heads and place baby carrots between the broccoli – melt butter and drizzle over the top – sprinkle with herbs and or garlic salt. Wrap the dish with plastic wrap in a cross – going one way all way round and repeating going the other way sealing in the vegetables. Place the dish in the microwave and cook 5 or more minutes until the cauliflower is tender. 

When serving cut the vegetables in a wedge – truly a lovely presentation.

*Julia Child’s Ragout of Chicken with Coq Au Vin variations

2 ½ to 3 pounds frying-chicken parts

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil or good cooking oil

3 cups sliced onions

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 or 2 large cloves of garlic pureed

1 imported bay leaf

¼ tsp or so thyme (I used fresh)

1 large ripe red unpeeled tomato chopped, or 1/3 cup canned Italian plum tomatoes

3 cups young red wine (zinfandel, Macon, or Chianti type)

1 or more cups chicken stock

Buerre Manie for the sauce (1 ½ tbs each flour and softened butter blended to a paste)

Fresh parsley sprigs or chopped parsley

Equipment suggested – a heavy bottomed 12-inc frying pan or casserole 2 inches dee, and a cover for the pan.

Browning the chicken* using Coq Au Vin variation

Brown salt pork (lardon) that has been blanched to remove the salt. Once browned, remove and set aside and brown the chicken in the pork fat – you may add butter and or oil to supplement enough fat to brown the chicken.

Remove the chicken from the pan and brown the sliced onions sautéing over moderate heat until fairly tender, thenraise heat and brown lightly. Drain in a sieve set over a bowl to remove excess fat.

Simmering the chicken.

Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper, return it to the pan. Add the browned onions, garlic, bay, thyme and tomato. Pour in the wine and enough stock barely to cover the ingredients. Bring to a simmer; cover and simmer slowly 20 minutes or until the chicken is tender when pressed.

Finishing the chicken – the sauce.

Remove the chicken to a side dish, and spoon surface fat off the cooking juices. Pour the juices (and onions) into a saucepan and taste very carefully for strength and seasoning. Boil down rapidly if it needs strength, adding more of the seasonings if you think them necessary.

Off heat, whisk in the beurre manie to make a lightly thickened sauce. Bring briefly to the simmer – the sauce should be just thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. Was out the casserole; return the cicken to it, basting with the sauce and onions.

Adding braised onions and mushrooms to

 complete the Coq Au Vin

*Brown-Braised Onions

In a pan just roomy enough to hold them in one layer, sauté the peeled onions in a little clarified butter or oil. Swirling the pan to turn them they will not brown evenly, but will take on a decent amount of color. Then add chicken broth (and if you wish a little red wine) to come half-way up. Season lightly with salt and perhaps a bay leaf or a pinch of dried herbs. Cover and simmer slowly 25 to 30 minutes, until the onions are tender when pierced but still hold their shape.

*Sauteed Mushrooms

1 tbs butter

1 tsp light olive oil or cooking oil

fresh mushrooms (6 cups)

½ tbs chopped shallots or scallions

salt and freshly ground pepper

set the frying pan over high heat with the butter and oil. When the butter foam begins to subside, toss in the mushrooms. Toss frequently, swirling the pan by its handle, for several minutes, while the mushrooms absorb the butter. In a minute or two it reappears on their surface; toss with the chopped shallots or scallion in a moment or two more if you wish them to brown lightly. Toss with a sprinkle of salt and grinds of fresh pepper. If they are to be part of a vegetable garnish, the sooner you serve them the better.

*With bread crumbs, garlic, and parsley

When sautéed with garlic and parsley, mushrooms take on a distinctly new personality.

Sauté the mushrooms when they are done and almost beginning to brown, toss them with ½ cup fresh white bread crumbs, sautéing for a good moment or more. Then toss with a large clove of minced garlic and a handful of chopped parsley.

Finishing the dish

Strain, degrease and finish the sauce. Strew the braised onions and sautéed mushrooms over the chicken, baste with the sauce, and simmer a few minutes, basting to rewarm the chicken and to blend the flavors.

My husband came home for a moment while I was preparing the dish. The surprise lost! When he did arrive home for the day, he walked in and said, ‘Is this another Julia Child recipe? I hope it tastes as good as it smells’. It surely did. Then in the middle of the meal he asked, ‘where’s the biscuit’? Sigh, my Southern boy must always have his biscuit….

I hope you give this a try, it is a satisfying dish – one would be quite pleased to prepare and to present to her family. 

déjeuner pour une


Lunch for One

The culinary world was transformed when Julia Child experienced her first French meal of sole meunière.

From that moment on, her journey of love and education of food ultimately introducing American housewives to French cuisine has enriched and enchanted dining for us all.

This week, we are preparing Omelette Roulée

The egg is one of the most marvelously versatile ingredients.

French omelets are, ‘smooth gently swelling golden ovals that is tender and creamy inside’ *

I chose to add fresh Tarragon from my garden. I decorated the plate with a Tarragon blossom and a chive blossom.

For One  (rolled) Omelette*

                                                          2 or 3 eggs

Big pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

Mixing bowl

A table fork

1 Tbsp butter

an omelet pan 7” in diameter at the bottom

Beat the eggs and seasonings in the mixing bowl for 20 to 30 seconds until the whites and yolks are just blended.

Place butter in the pan and set over very high heat. As the butter melts, tilt the pan in all directions to film the sides. When you see that the foam has almost subsided in the pan and the butter is on the point of coloring (indicating it is hot enough), pour in the eggs. It is of utmost importance in this method that the butter be of the correct temperature.

Grasp the handle of the pan with both hands, thumbs on top, and immediately begin jerking the pan vigorously and roughly toward you at an even, 20-degree angle over the heat one jerk per second. It is the sharp pull of the pan toward you, which throws the egg against the far lip of the pan, then back over its bottom surface. You must have the courage to be rough or the eggs will not loosen themselves from the bottom of the pan. After several jerks the eggs will begin to thicken. (a filling would go in at this point).

Then increase the angle of the pan slightly, which will force the egg mass to roll over on itself with each jerk at the far lip of the pan. As soon as the omelet has shaped up, hold it in the angle of the pan to brown the bottom a pale golden color, but only a second or two, for the eggs must not overcook. The center of the omelette should remain soft and creamy. If the omelette has not formed neatly, push it with the back of your fork. Turn the omelette onto the plate. Rub the top with a bit of butter and serve as soon as possible.*

Garnishings and Fillings

Aux Fines Herbes (with herbs)

Beat into the eggs at the beginning 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs such as chervil, parsley, chives, and tarragon. Sprinkle more of the same over the finished omelette.

Au Fromage (with cheese)

After the eggs have set for 2 or 3 seconds in the pan sprinkle one or two tablespoons of grated Swiss or Parmesan cheese and finish the omelette.

Other suggestions:

Sprinkle ¼ cup of any of the following cooking ingredients

Diced sautéed potatoes and minced herbs

Diced truffles

Diced sautéed ham, chicken livers, or mushrooms

Diced cooked asparagus tips or artichoke hearts

Diced cooked shrimp, crab, or lobster

Cubes of stale white bread sautéed in butter*

Grits

A very southern dish finds its roots in American indian foods. Creamy, white grits are traditionally eaten for breakfast with eggs, bacon/ham and biscuits. Grits can be made from ground corn or hominy. In our rural county, there are a couple restored grist mills where corn is ground for meal and for grits.

This smooth and creamy dish is a very satisfying side dish.

We have been eating them for years and we use it as a side dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Sometimes we have breakfast for dinner.

Other times we pair grits with pork chops and fish.

Several years back I had an epiphany with grits. We were visiting family in Florence and ate at a restaurant called

Red Bone Alley – their specialty was shrimp and cheese grits. 

I found their grits to be extremely delicious – upon asking the owner I found they did not use water to make their grits but heavy cream. Heaven!

Cheese Grits

1 cup stone-ground or quick grits

4 cups milk

1 cup cheddar cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

4 tablespoons butter

½ teaspoon salt (to taste)

1/8 teaspon pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

¼ tesp Tabasco sauce

to prepare grits bring the milk to a slow boil and slowly stir in the grits.  Turn the burner down low and continue to cook for approximately 30 minutes stirring to keep from scorching the grits. Add the remaining ingredients.

You can pair this side dish with any meat you like – spicy shrimp, ham, pork chops or fish.

Tonight we’re having fried Tilapia using Zataran’s Fish Fry.

Have you ever tried grits – if not – you’ll just love them!

From The Simple To The Sublime

I cook everyday. I have, as you probably do, several fall back recipes and meal plans that I rely upon on a weekly basis – those things that I can cook without much thought or having to turn to my favorite cookbooks 
and my family enjoys.

One of the simplest entrees I regularly fix has only two ingredients, but my family always asks me – what did you do to this chicken – it is so good!

I place a boneless, skinless breast of chicken (one per person) in a baking dish and pour over Girard’s Champagne Salad Dressing. I cover the chicken and bake at 350 until done. At the very last I broil the top to give it some color. This chicken is very flavorful and moist. Simply done with rice and a salad this makes an enjoyable meal.

You can also use Balsamic Salad Dressing or Italian – any oil/vinegar based dressing. But, the Girard’s Champagne Salad Dressing imparts a wonderful flavor to the chicken.

I also love to bake from cakes and pies to muffins and breads. One of my favorite memories is from several years back when we lived in Columbus, Ohio. I would take my children downtown to the YMCA for swimming lessons. On our way we would pass a bakery. The aroma of the baking bread is a soul-stirring – satisfying fragrance.

the sponge

When I bake bread at home, I feel I impart a sense of warmth and comfort to my family as they come home, pause at the door and take in a deep breath – and say, “Is that bread you’re making”. This brings on a big smile to all faces.

Do you remember the commercials where the mother is in the kitchen and her family is waiting expectantly in the living room for her to appear with dessert. She makes Rice Krispy treats – splashes flour on her face and immerges appearing exhausted bearing a platter of the Rice Krispy treats to be greeted by their oohs and ahhs… I chuckle at that memory.

Is there a treat you fix your family that they are in awe of and you know is sublime but simple – to me that is Crème Brulee. It is a divine dessert, but so easy to make.

These are just a few of the things I love to cook for my family. 
Three recipes that are simple but definitely sublime.

Coming Together

If there is one meal that I go all out on and know

we’ll have the whole family there to sit down

together – it is our Sunday Dinner.

Years ago, I became familiar with a more

formal, family get-together dinner

from my aunt’s house.

I grew up in the Southwest and our

family gatherings were more relaxed.

Also, we did not regularly attend church.

But, when my dad retired and we moved

East, I became familiar with what I attribute

to be a Southern tradition.

Sunday Dinner.

My Aunt and Uncle were dedicated church members.

So, Sundays were a very busy day. My Aunt would

prepare a full meal on Saturdays – keeping it warm

all through the morning church service.

It reminded me of Norman Rockwell paintings.

So, now that church attendance is a normal

part of our weekly routine – making Sunday Dinnner

has become a normal part of my weekend routine.

Sometimes I accomplish this on Saturdays

more often than not, I rise early and prepare the

bulk of the meal leaving a few things to be done

after church.

Sunday Dinner usually consists of

a meat, a starch and a couple of vegetables.Oh, and for

my Dearest – bread.

I will fix a dessert on most occasions – but not always.

This is my favorite way to roast a chicken.
In a cast iron pot I place a whole chicken
that I season with Herbs de Provence.
I quarter an onion, leaving the brown skin
and stuff with the herbs.
I also slice some of the onion to rest on the
skin. Sometimes I add white wine or
chicken broth.
The onion skins give the juices a lovely
amber color that lends itself well to sauces
and gravy.
With the roasted chicken I added mashed potatoes,
sauteed cabbage, corn and biscuits.
I made Creme' Caramel, which my husband
and daughter were not too fond of. I loved its
satiny smooth texture - the perfect ending
to a convivial meal.

It is a wonderful thing to sit down to a family meal.

To enjoy good food and good company –

I think a lot of our best memories will be

from the conversations and the laughter

around the family’s Sunday Dinner.